Fall 2023 New Staff and Faculty
08-21-2023
Tadd Colver, Assistant Department Head
I was born in Minnesota but mostly grew up in Utah and did my undergrad at BYU Hawaii in mathematics. After my freshman year, I did a two-year voluntary mission for my church in Chicago. Afterwards, I met my wife, YiChou, who is from Taiwan, and we have 5 children. Only one is still at home and she’ll be starting 8th grade at Westside.
During my master’s degree here at Purdue I learned to enjoy teaching and after quitting my PhD took a job here at Purdue from 2005-2018 as a lecturer. I really do love teaching and it’s always exciting for me to see the light bulb go on in one of my students.
I took a job at Utah State to be closer to family the past 5 years, but I am very excited to return to Purdue. The department here has always felt like home to me and West Lafayette has been a great place to raise our family.
I love to spend my free time with family and friends doing just about anything: traveling or vacationing, playing board games or computer games, participating in recreational sports, or just about anything else where I can spend time with others and enjoy their company.
Drew Yarger, Assistant Professor, Statistics and Data Science
Drew spent the last year as a postdoc at Sandia National Labs in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He received his PhD in Statistics at the University of Michigan in 2022 under the co-advisors Stilian Stoev and Tailen Hsing.
Drew’s research focuses on the development of statistical methodology of spatial statistics and functional data analysis for applications in climate, oceanography, and environmental data.
Originally from South Bend, looks forward to returning to his home state. In his free time, Drew enjoys following baseball, hiking, biking, Latin dance, and crosswords.